Ahmadinejad Criticizes Israel in UN Speech

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and newly-elected Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi were two of the headliners at day 2 of the United Nation's General Assembly, which met Wednesday.

It was Ahmadinejad's last time speaking before the United Nations, as his 8-year term as Iran's president will end next year. Ahmadinejad, infamous for his blustery rhetoric and furiously anti-Israeli sentiments, was relatively uncontroversial by his usual standards, avoiding denials of the Holocaust and referring to 9/11, which he previously termed "a big lie," as "tragic." He did however to refer to Israel as "uncivilized Zionists," and claimed that the Israeli people "have no roots" in the Middle East.

The United States delegation boycotted the speech in protest of the fact that Ahmadinejad was allowed to speak on Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement and one of the holiest days on the Jewish calendar.

Following Ahmadinejad, Mohamed Morsi addressed the UN for the first time, stridently declaring that he "will not rest" until the war in Syria ends. The first Islamist president elected in an Arab state also condemned the American-originated video "Innocence of Muslims," which has sparked riots accross the Middle East that have led to the deaths of several Americans, including the Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens. 

President Obama addressed the Assembly the day before, also denouncing the film, but also taking a stance against censorship, declaring that "we must affirm that our future will be determined by people like Chris Stevens, and not by his killers."

Obama offered no solution to the perennially-contentious Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but UN General Secretary Ban Ki Moon suggested Tuesday that the "door is closing" on the possibility of a two-state solution.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.